Already Over
by Tsukimine-chan
Summary: Things become more difficult for the Jade Gang now that Van has assigned a eerily calm Fon Master Guardian to protect Dist! Based off of the anime, many spoilers inside. Proceed at your own caution as there may be OOC.
1. The Silent Shadow

"This is an insult, Van! You're simply being foolish about this!"

Dist glared as Commandant Van Grants signed a paper on his desk ever so calmly.

"All of your attempts to stop them have failed. I'm assigning you a guardian to at least keep the fomicy labs in operation." he turned to Legretta, who stood at his side in silence, "Please go retrieve Fon Master Guardian Zeka Hayashi."

The blonde God-General then walked away and out the large heavy door, ignoring the Reaper's defiant outburst as she passed him. She knew just where to find the girl.

The wind was swirling chaotically at the top of the Daath Cathedral, the sun beating down on the stone structure. The majority of people residing there didn't dare go to the top, and only a few would go for a few moments. It made the perfect place for a rather young Oracle Knight to sit and think. The charcoal-haired teen gazed out at the city below her, her expression blank. It wasn't until she heard a familiar voice call her that she snapped out of this trance.

"Fon Master Guardian Hayashi, the Commandant wants to see you." It was Legretta, calm as ever despite the tempest that was spinning around the platform. The girl turned, glancing at the gun-weilding God-General with her dark chocolate hues.

"Alright, thank you for telling me ma'am. I will go to his office immedietly, if I may be excused?"

Legretta allowed the girl to pass her before leaving the platform herself. How the guardian would take becoming Dist's bodyguard, she didn't know, though she knew Dist would hate it. The girl had just finished her training a few days before the Replica Fon Master Ion was killed, and this wasn't a secret to her. Zeka was one of the first to find out, as she had been nearby when Mohs had told them.

They soon reached the old large door that lead to Van's office, still able to hear Dist's outraged shouts and insults.

"God-General Legretta the Quick and Fon Master Guardian Zeka Hayashi, we request permission to enter." Legretta said as the voices on the other side of the door went quiet.

"Come in."

Zeka quietly opened the door, seeing Dist the Reaper and Van there, the former seeming irritated by something as the two walked in, Legretta returning to her place at Van's side.

"You wished to speak with me, sir?" the Fon Master Guardian asked calmly, hiding the fact she was afraid of the commandant. If she were to ever anger him, there's no doubt he could kill her. She had to be careful around him.

"Yes. As I'm sure you're aware of, the Fon Master replica was killed a few weeks ago, and so far, most of our battles have been losses in our part." he paused, glancing over at the silver-haired fontech scientist before continuing, "In order to assure our fomicy labrotories are secured, I am appointing you as Dist's bodyguard. You will accompany him on missions and keep him out of danger, just as you would have for the late Fon Master. Do you understand?"

Zeka nodded, confirming this. She didn't dare say no, or show her shock. Thankfully she had learned to wear a "mask" to hide her true feelings and opinions. In this case, it would be her best weapon. Dist was known for holding grudges; say one wrong word, he hates you.

"I will make sure he is out of harm at all times, sir."


	2. Curiosity Killed the Cat

Everything seemed quiet in the Daath Cathedral lately. Zeka Hayashi, one of the newer members of the Oracle Knights, had finally gotten used to her new life as the 'guardian' of the weakest God-General, who went by "Dist the Reaper". Really, it was pure luck she got in. Technically, she didn't even want to be there due to her usually calm and peaceful nature...but she had her reasons to join.

Though a few found it odd for a fifteen-year-old girl to be guarding a God-General, and so soon after joining, everything seemed fine. She often found herself talking to multiple other Oracle Knights once in a while during the lunch hour. This is how she found out about a book Dist kept: his 'Revenge' Journal.

"That's...odd. Though I guess it should be expected." she thought, taking a tray of food to Dist's research laboratory, as he hadn't shown up to eat. Upon opening the rather large door, she found out why. The silver-haired God-General was passed out, leaning against a half-built robot. She sighed, shaking her head. It seemed he'd been neglecting to take care of himself to build these bulky machines, as she'd heard he's done multiple times. She set the tray on a nearby desk as her attention was averted to a small book with what looked like a rose printed on it.

"This must be that 'Revenge Journal' they had told me about..." Zeka muttered, opening it to a random page and began to read.

_Though their presence is currently tolerable, it might be useful to keep a log of the various forms of humiliation my colleagues seem inclined to subject me to on an almost daily basis. I was attempting to maintain a COOL VEENER, under which my eternal rage would broil un-noticed, but I've remembered what Professor Nebilim told me so many years ago about writing down my feelings._

_Besides, I am getting closer to my goal of opening that double-crossing lizard-spawn Jade's willfully closed eyes. Once Jade is at my feet, the other Six God Generals are next! Oh yes!_

_**Legretta**__ - I would normally have no complaints about such a classy, professional woman, however the other day I happened to merely __**COMMENT**__ on the way in which she followed the Commandment around like a kicked puppy, and she had the __**AUDACITY**__ to turn my own insult back against me! "You should talk," she said! The nerve of her! How could she say that? I have never been anyone's kicked puppy - how many times do I have to tell them: __**I'm a rose!**_

_**Asch**__ - He elbows me hard in the hallway every time he passes me! D= I don't know what I ever did to him! Besides help create the replica that stole his life, of course. Still, I worry that if he doesn't stop scowling so much, his face will be stuck that way!_

Reading this actually made her smile, laughing quietly to herself at the thought of Asch's face being stuck in a scowl for the rest of his life before continuing to an earlier entry.

_Today we made a mistake._

_I guess it was Jade's mistake, but if I hadn't been there, he might have been able to concentrate better and it wouldn't have happened._

_Jade said to me: __**"I will defeat death."**__I think what he means is that now we're going to take revenge of death, so it's okay for me to write this in my journal._

_There's not really any reason to be keeping it anymore after what happened, but I think I'll keep it to honor Professor Nebilim's memory._

_When we get her back, she'll be really proud of me__._

This entry made a shiver go up and down her spine. Numerous letters had been blurred by something, perhaps water? Or maybe it was tears? What really scared her was the bloody fingerprint on the bottom left corner of the page...it made her wonder what in the world happened to this 'Professor Nebilim'.

"Just what are you doing, _Zeka?_" an angry voice asked from behind her, making the girl flinch. She turned to see the God-General standing behind her, glaring down at her angrily.

"Heheh...oops?" she said, laughing nervously as she set the book down quietly before running off.


	3. Blizzard

Zeka stared out at the snow-covered city that stood before her. She had to come with Dist to Keterburg for reasons she didn't know. He just suddenly decided to stop by, though they would have to get to the Tower of Rem soon with all the replicas. She didn't understand why.

"You should be honored to be here, Zeka. This is my hometown where all those stories I've told you happened!" Dist said as the two entered the silver city. That's right, Zeka did remember him telling all sorts of most-likely over-exagerated stories from when he was maybe nine years old.

"Of course I do, sir. May I ask why we're here though?"

Dist simply remained silent, not even bothering to turn to look at her. She found that odd, normally he would give her some sort of answer. This time, however, he won't even give her a look that could show how serious this was. This had to be important to him, but why?

Suddenly, the wind began to pick up rapidly. Snow blew in powerful gusts of air as others ran into the large buildings on both sides of the street. An unexpected blizzard was beginning and already was causing issues. Zeka could feel blocks of ice and frozen-hard snow hitting her, only hindering her weak condition.

The guardian noticed the silhouette of a large piece of ice flying through the air, seeming to be coming straight towards Dist. If it hit him, there was no doubt that it would make things more dangerous. She had to think fast.

Dist felt someone push him as a relatively large ball of ice flew past his face mere centimeters away. He heard a it hit something as he tumbled into the soft snow. Looking, the God-General realized what had happened as he saw Zeka laying in the snow perhaps a few feet away from him, her forehead bloody. She must've saw the chunk of ice flying towards him, and she made a split-second decision to push him out of the way. Now he had to figure out what to do, and fast.

As this was happening, someone could see the silhouette of the two through the snow. She quickly tied a rope to the door of the Inn, and the other to her arm. The woman then made her way out to find them and bring them out of the dangerous snowstorm. Soon seeing the man trying to help the smaller teenager to her feet, and called out to them.

"You two, please, come here! You need to get out of this storm!"

"(What? No way...That couldn't be...)" Dist thought as he assisted the half-unconcious guardian as he heard the woman's voice seem to call them. However, his glasses were badly fogged to the point where he could only see things not much farther than a few inches away from his face. Seeing that the two probably couldn't see her, she made her way to them and lead them back with the rope.

Dist was relieved to be out of the storm, thanking the woman as he wiped off his glasses, but was surprised to hear the woman call him by his original name. Quickly, he placed the circle-lensed glasses back in front of his violet eyes.

"N-Nephry?!"


	4. Explaintion

Dist stared out the rather small window of the Inn's lobby. The storm hadn't let up at all yet, it would surely take some time for that to happen at this rate. The wind was still blowing horrifically, causing a whiteout from the snowflakes it carried. Nephry was letting the two stay the night, not like they had much of a choice in the matter. A seventh fonist who happened to so luckily be in the Inn was currently healing Zeka's head injury, so if he left, that could cause some formidable issues for him. Besides, there was no going anywhere with a storm like this. One simply wouldn't have a chance out there, with a white out and the massive amount of snow.

"I'm surprised you came back so soon, Saphir. Why is that?"

The God-General glanced over his shoulder, aiming his violet eyes at his childhood friend, his mind now averted from his thoughts. It took a minute to think of the reason.

"I simply came to check on Professor Nebilim's gravesite." He paused, trying to think of an explanation, "I was just curious to see that it was being taken care of properly."

Nephry gave him a slightly saddened smile, "Of course it is, I've seen to it myself that the area is kept in very good condition."

"Who is Professor Nebilim..?" they heard a voice ask. It wasn't Nephry nor Dist, but instead Zeka. She seemed slightly dazed – probably from her head injury – as she stood in the doorway on the other side of the room. An irritated look crossed the silver-haired fonmachinist's face as he quickly walked by her, saying he was turning in for the night. All the child could do was move out of his way, wondering what she had said to annoy him so much.

"Zeka, was it? Could you have a seat over there?"

The guardian glanced over at the Viscount, complying as she walked to one of the chairs and both sitting down. She would have needed to anyway; the blow she took was making her dizzy to say the least. Nephry then began explaining the incident to her.

"My brother had always been trying to get stronger and stronger, he thought he could do anything with the power he had. Unfortunately, he also didn't know how to hold back, and Saphir – Dist, as you know him –usually had to deal with most of it, though it didn't seem that he cared back then." She paused as the girl listened intently to the explanation, "He was doing an experiment with at the professor's school. It went horribly bad, and the explosion set her school building on fire and killed her."

Zeka had no idea about the saddening tale. That bloodstained page she read was written on that day years ago, no doubt. But what happened afterwards? She decided it would be best not to dwell on the subject for too long; her head felt like it was pounding as she stood. Besides, chills still shoot through her body at the mere thought of that page.

"Thank you for telling me this, Viscount Osborne." Zeka muttered, bowing to the woman in respect. "My head is hurting again; I think I'll head back to my room."

Nephry nodded, glancing out the window as the girl left. Zeka paused at her door, her gaze turning to Dist's door which was across from her own. Surely such a thing must have hurt the God-General terribly, right? Zeka thought for a moment before muttering something under her breathe.

"I will not allow anyone to get in Dist's way to bring Professor Nebilim back, and I will die trying.."

She then opened the door to her room and walked inside, shutting the door behind her.


	5. Preparation

Dist gazed up at his now finished masterpiece. He certainly outdid himself this time around, there was no way he would lose to that traitor Jade! He would even be able to stay in a compartment he had made inside of it. He should be able to have more control over it now, which would surely lead him to victoty. Then, he could start planning on getting Professor Nebilim's replica created...

It certainly had caught the silver-haired machinist off guard when Zeka asked if she could help earlier, once they returned from Keterburg at least. The child just came in as he was starting to build this new Kaiser Dist and asked right out of the blue! No one had ever offered to help him in his work, so he had no way of knowing how to react to such a thing. He had noticed that she was being rather nervous about asking, but curious as well. Perhaps she had never seen fontech before?

Not knowing what to say, the God-General had simply told her that there was no need for the help and that he had done this all his life, which was true since he invented fontech in the first place. It seemed that she was a little saddened by this - which strangely made him feel a little bad - but soon shrugged it off and accepted the answer before leaving his research labrotory.

Now, just how long had this one taken him? The last had taken all night, which rather disappointed him after it had been destroyed. How could they massacre his artfull work which took so long to make?! It irritated him to no end, they felt no remorse what so ever...

A loud klang suddenly resounded through the silent and large area, making the man jump a little from being startled so suddenly. What in Yulia's name was that?! It certainly didn't sound like it came from any of his fontech machines, more like outside the door.

Dist slowly opened the door to investigate what had made that sound outside his lab, and at first didn't see anything. However, his attention was soon brought to an object on the other side of the large door being moved as he opened it wider. A scythe was laying there, rather battered and almost seeming like it could fall apart. That was certainly odd. His attention was then drawn to somone sitting on the hard floor, leaning against the wall.

It seems his guardian was keeping watch outside the door for him, in case anyone tried to interupt him. She must have fallen asleep on the job, just how long was he working on that? It must've been another all-nighter, surely...

"(She didn't have to stay up like that...)"


	6. Anger and Death

Talk of a useless life filled Zeka's ears. There she stood with the mob of replicas at the Tower of Rem, supervising them. She tried to hide it, refuse the anguish she felt, yet even for her now stone-cold heart it was difficult. There would be no reason to live without hope, and none of them had it. She was somewhat happy that they would soon be released from this torture. Then again, she knew the feeling all too well herself.

She clutched her left sleeve of her coat, she didn't need to be thinking of THAT right now, it was simply unneeded and would only cause her issues. This time, a different voice resounded through the air suddenly, yelling as she took a glance in its direction.

A young man with hair that seemed to resemble small flames was yelling at the replicas; Asch the Bloody's own replica, Luke. She jumped down from the small platform she was sitting on, walking quietly towards them. However, one person there surprised her.

Anise.

The younger girl with her usual puffy twintails heard her first and saw her, "Zeka?! What are you doing here?!"

Zeka didn't answer.

"Zeka?"

_No, ignore it. _

The old girl glanced away, her gaze facing the ground, her eyes hidden by her long bangs.

_Remembering it only makes things worse._

"Who is this Anise?" the blonde woman asked the child. There was no doubt that she was the princess, it was far too obvious. The clothing, her speech...It irritated her.

"She's another Fon Master Guardian, she helped me when I first joined!" Zeka could stand there in silence, an ominous yet depressing aura surrounding the guardian. What should she do? What should she say? Did she even know that she was working for the other side?

Suddenly, a haunting laugh came from above, Dist had finally arrived. It was time for battle.

"Ahahaha! You could wait an eternity, yet that day will never come!"

The teenager glanced up as the God-General's robot began shooting at the replicas from the large gun attached to it. She clenched her jaw, seeing the bloodshed. If anything, she hated things like this the most, the killing of the innocent. What could she do though? She was a lower rank and therefore couldn't tell the mad scientist to stop. Yet she heard another woman with very long hair order him to do just that.

Ignore the past, it'll only hurt you in the end.

Dist only gave a sadistic smile, "I'm afraid I can't; not until I eradicate all of these meddlesome replicas. Until then, I can't go through with my plan to bring Professor Nebilim back!" he looked towards the taller man in the Malkuth military uniform, "Then you'll go back to normal as well!"

"I suppose it's my fault for letting you live this long. Goodbye, Saphir."

Zeka looked to the red-eyed man That had to be him, Nephry's brother. There was no doubt; the resemblence was quite close, not to mention that it made sense for the infamous Jade Curtiss to be related to her in some way, since she knew that many important figures in Malkuth came from the snowy port that was Keterburg. Finally, she decided to speak.

"Sir, allow me to take care of this battle, as I was ordered."

Anise as well as quite a few others from her group looked shocked. It didn't seem she knew.

"What are you doing Zeka?!"

Zeka could only look at her friend and now enemy. She tried her hardest not to show any emotion, yet her rues must not have worked. She couldn't shake the feeling that they could tell; she didn't want to fight any of them, yet she had no choice, no matter what she did. What Dist would say would surprise her.

"No, Zeka. Stand down, this is my fight."

The guardian swung her head in the God-General's direction, a shocked look had finally struck her normally overly-calm face, "W-what..?"

"I said stand down, this isn't your battle to fight."

"B-but sir-!" she stammered, the shock not leaving her face.

" I said stand down! That's an order!" Dist interupted her before she could say anymore. Slowly, she looked away, her gaze averting itself towards the possibly dead bodies of the replicas that had been shot by the Kaiser Dist. All she could muster is mumble a 'yes sir'.

And so the battle began. Zeka stayed out of it to the best of her ability, keeping the multiple replicas away from the battle. Yet still, she could barely keep herself from it. It didn't seem that the god-general could win; the odds were bad. Finally, the battered robot failed and collapsed, and Dist's chair slowly floated down to the ground.

"...They're still fools Mohs shall never come for them...This tower will become ashes, once Aldurant's anti-air system activates..." he said before activating a switch as he laughed manically, "Professor Nebilim...I'm coming!"

The robot began to slowly flash red on and off, the switch had to be a self-destruct button. A chilling realization ran through Zeka's mind. He couldn't really mean to commit suicide, could he?!

The girl ran to the god-general as fast as she could, her mind only focused on Dist. Because of that, she wasn't prepared when Jade used an arte to send both the the robot and Dist high into the air. The spell sent the guardian back, sending her small, grey-cloaked body to the ground. She looked to the sky as the sound of a deadly explosion resounded through her ears.

Silence. The dumbstruck and shocked teen scanned the sky for any sign of the God-General. He had to have gotten out safe, right? He always manages to, right?Still, there was nothing in the sky. Zeka's gaze fell to the ground, teardrops burning her eyes as she stood before falling to the hard cold structure. She had failed to fulfill the only reason left for her to fight. Her hand could barely stay steady as she grabbed her battered old scythe.

More killing, more bloodshed, more hurt. Dist only wanted to atone for what happened, right? It wasn't his fault, he only missed the life they all lost that day! Why should another have to die like this?!

A feeling of blinding anger filled her heart. It was Jade who killed Professor Nebilim, right? Now he has to kill his childhood friend?! That is no way to solve anything! Slowly, the girl's head rose to face them, the tears continuing to burn in her chocolate brown eyes. They now held a feeling of absolute anger, and murderous intent.

"I'll avenge Dist, here and now! Prepare to die!" she yelled, raising her scythe. The group was worried about her, she wasn't thinking straight as Anise told them. She had only seen her do this one other time, that was when another much more snobby Fon Master Guardian had dumped a bucket of water on her for the second time. The first time, Dist had made her Tokunaga into a weapon; the next, Zeka handled the situation herself by using a simple wind-based arte to "blow them away" in the most literal sense possible.

"Azure Edge!" the guardian yelled, slashing in the group's direction as they prepared for another battle. Tear began singing the first Fonic Hymn, having a plan in mind. Luke and Guy slashed at the girl as Jade began casting his artes, yet she parried their swords with ease. This continued until finally the scythe's blade shattered, sending the rest of the aged weapon flying out of her hand. The blade of Luke's sword left a deep cut on her forehead, yet it wasn't enough to be a fatal wound.

She stumbled as the effects of the hymn began taking its toll on her body. Her limbs and head felt heavy, and she stumbled as she placed her hand on the injury. Her eyes slowly closed, and she collapsed. The guardian was knocked out before she hit the ground.


	7. Calm After The Storm

It had been a few days since Dist's death and the skirmish with Zeka. Luke had survived the sacrifice, though his fonons would slightly separate from time-to-time. Now they had decided to rest for a short time in the manor, as the Duke's son needed to regain his strength. With the guardian still knocked out from the injury and the hymn in another room, the group was discussing what should be done next.

"I take it that your friend isn't usually like that." Tear said, glancing over at Anise. The child sighed, playing with the arms of her stitched-up doll that the late mad scientist made for her.

"Only if she sees someone doing something wrong." she explained, "One time, one of the older Fon Master Guardians dumped a bunch of water on me. She blew them practically out of the base with her arte. This time though..."

"The poor girl was so distraught, she wasn't thinking right from the way she was acting." Natalia said. The princess had been concerned about the girl; hearing Zeka's last name was 'Hayashi' concerned her more.

All there was to fill the room was silence and sunlight. Zeka's eyes felt heavy as they slowly opened, her dark brown hues glancing around the room. It took a few minutes to comprehend where she was, then her eyes widened. She sat up, facing a mirror that stood before her. She looked like a mess; bruised up and a bloody bandage across her head. The realization of what had taken place suddenly hit her.

Dist was dead.

She failed to keep her promise.

She betrayed her friendship with Anise.

What was left of her now? Those aspects of her life were the only thing keeping her going. Now there didn't seem to be anything. She clutched the blanket that had been covering her to keep her warm, fighting back more tears.

_Don't cry you idiot. you'll only look weak._

Wiping her eyes with the bloody, tattered sleeve, she glanced to the desk on the other side of the room. She got up; good, there were some paper and pens there. Perfect. She began writing a note, but didn't realize how long she had been preoccupied by this.

"Excuse me? May I come in?" a voice spoke from behind the door, soft and more mature sounding. A woman with dark blonde hair and emerald eyes walked in, one of Natalia's servants for sure, judging by the uniform. She gazed at the guardian with a shocked expression.

"Zeka...? Is that really you?"

Now she realized who this really was, "..Sis..."

Zeka's sister ran to the girl, hugging her so tightly the guardian was having difficulty breathing.

"I missed you so much! Our parents have been worried sick about you! Ah, why did you cut your hair? It was so pretty when it was long..."

"E-Erudyce...can't..breathe..."

The woman quickly let go of the younger raven-haired girl, "Sorry!" Zeka simply nodded, folding the paper up into a small square in her pocket.

"Um, sis...could you tell Her Highness and the others that I'll be back soon? I have something I need to take care of..."

Judging by the way her younger sister spoke, her voice shaking as if she was just trying to keep her composure, Erudyce nodded to confirm that she would do just that. Zeka got up from her seat in front of the desk, the note in her hand, putting her grey and red coat on before hurrying out of the manor.


	8. Regretful Message

"If only I had realized before...Poor Zeka..."

After telling the group of Zeka's leave, Erudyce had asked what had happened to cause her to be like this. Before, she used to be so cheerful and caring; now her younger sister's heart had been molded into a cold, hard stone. Anise glanced away, her mind replaying those moments when Zeka had helped her and then the battle against her. First she lost Ion, now all of this…

"Anise, would you please come with me to check on her? I know you are friends, and she needs all the support she can get..."

Anise looked up, the woman's concerned voice breaking through the endless replays in her head, "Uh...Sure..."

The sun beat down heavily on Aldurant. Zeka sat quietly quite far outside Baticul's outer wall. She re-read the note over and over, trying to figure out if it was good enough. There just seemed to be something missing, but unfortunately she couldn't fix that now. Now she had to think about how to send it...

Burning it was absolutely out of the question, as doing so would be disrespectful when reminded of how Dist was killed, and she couldn't use the Fifth Fonon anyway. What would work?

Finally she came up with an idea. Taking the crumbled, folded paper in her hands, she began ripping it up over and over.

"I have a feeling that I know what she left to do." Erudyce said to the young Fon Master Guardian. The two were making their way through the large crowd in the streets of Baticul, trying to get to the gates. There was no doubt that she had went outside the capital's walls.

"Like what?"

"Our mother had a peculiar tradition…" the blonde woman said, "Within a few days of a friend or loved one dying, we write a note to them. Then we destroy it in a way that doesn't relate to how they died –if they died in a fire or something, we wouldn't set the note on fire. If we're lucky, we'd get a sign from their spirit."

"That sure is weird…" Anise said. The woman merely laughed.

"Our mother is a strange woman, I'm used to it."

By the time she had finished explaining this to the younger girl, the two had already made it out of the capital. Anise looked around, trying to spot any sign of her friend, and soon she spotted a blotch of grey above a stone, distorted by heat waves.

"There!" she yelled. Just as soon as she spoke, she ran ahead of the Kimlascan servant to the charcoal haired girl. Zeka had spotted them easily – they weren't good at running quietly it seemed – but she did not smile.

"Are you alright Zeka..?" Erudyce asked her younger sister, her eyes full of worry. She couldn't remember a time where either of them had witnessed anyone's death, let alone both a shocking death of a close friend.

"….I'm fine…" she replied, and let the shards of ripped paper flow out of her hands. The pieces fluttered around in spirals through the air, like little white feathers dancing around solemnly before disappearing from sight.

Everything was silent and still. No one spoke, nothing moved. Zeka just stared out into space where the papers flew away, the hot sun beating down on her head. It almost felt like her headband could melt, permanently attaching itself to her head. Anise glanced up at her friend, just about to speak, when something happened.

A strong gust of chilling cold air blew by them, bringing white petals along with it. The three looked around in amazement at this.

"I thought there weren't any flowers around here…" Anise muttered.

"I've never seen anything like this. Could it be…?" Erudyce said as she caught one petal in her hand. Zeka just stared at this, amazed that it actually worked.

Suddenly, Anise felt another presence. Cautiously, she averted her attention from the event to look back towards the gates of Baticul. There, a man stood wearing a black and red suit. His silver hair wasn't moving even with the wind, and a large strange collar was attached to his coat.

It was Dist.

Though he was definitely there, he seemed transparent; one could see the gates through him. One lens of his round glasses were broken, and a bloody wound on his shoulder could be seen. The scientist stared back sadly, but then gave the child a solemn smile before finally turning away and vanishing into thin air. The gust soon ended.

Anise was frozen stiff. Was that…a ghost? Dist's ghost? Now that was scary. Just wait until Natalia and Tear heard about this! The younger girl almost didn't hear Zeka call her name.

"Anise, are you listening?" The younger guardian whirled around, her puffy pigtails spinning around her head before falling back into place.

"I'm sorry I attacked you and your friends…I didn't…" she said, her head hung low.

"Come on, little sister, you just got angry, that's all." Erudyce smiled, "Come on, let's get back to the Fabre Manor, they're waiting for us there."


	9. A Plan

"We need to go another way, the Oracle Knights are on pretty high security here…"

The three had been on their way back to Baticul, now that the 'Reaper's Guard' had managed to calm down, to plan out their next move. However, it seemed that many Oracle Knights had been sent in that time they were gone, guarding the majority of entrances. They had kept hidden from the Knights' sight, until a few left their posts at last. Getting past them was easy once that had happened.

Upon returning to Luke's manor, however, Zeka had not expected to see the rest of Anise's group at the doorway as if waiting for them. She noted their serious looks, and felt a tinge of guilt.

"I...I'm sorry for attacking you like that," the charcoal-haired teen finally said, "I don't know what-"

"It's fine, Zeka." Natalia said to cut the girl off, "Your emotions got the better of you, from what Anise says, that's a very rare case." Zeka was rather taken by surprise from this; she certainly hadn't expected to be left off the hook so easily!

"Now, we need to find a way to get through the Oracle Knights' barrier around the city. It's not likely they'll let us through without problems." Jade said to bring attention back to the group's mission. He was right; if the group was to ever get out of Baticul and not recieve any grief from the Order of Lorelei, something would have to happen to distract some of them. But what could that be...?

"...If you'll hear me through, I think I may have a plan." Zeka said after a moment of silence had filled the group. Everyone except the ever-so-calm colonel gapped at the former Oracle Knight, which didn't really surprise her.

"The Oracle Knights will leave one of their posts if something needs to be checked." she continued, "If you trust me enough, I can create a distraction and get them away from the city's entrance. That way, you all should be able to escape without having to force your way through."

"Wait, Zeka-! Are you sure this is such a good idea...?" Erudyce said to her little sister, a very obvious tinge of worry filling the servant's voice. Zeka simply nodded.

"They know I was at the Tower, as Van appointed me to keep Dist out of harms way so the replica labs could keep running smoothly." Zeka explained, "Right now, they think I'm dead or a traitor. Quite frankly, I've lost all loyalty to the Order anyway, or that side of them anyway."

Zeka glanced down at the polished, shiny floor with a bit of regret from simply recalling that battle. Even if she wished she could stop Dist from being there in the first place...she knew there was nothing she could do now. She had to follow what she believed was right from here on out. Though, she also felt that she should atone in some way for attacking the group out of rage...

"We can't let you do that, you'll get hurt!" Luke finally said, regaining the Fon Master Guardian's attention. She smiled, though the emotion in the gesture was difficult to read.

"Don't worry about me, Luke. You have far more important things to worry about."

"Well then, I believe we've settled this matter." Jade said as he adjusted his glasses, "I'll make sure we're prepared." With that, the group left Zeka and Erudyce behind.

"Zeka...Are you really so sure about this?" she said, but her sister's serious expression made it ever-more clear, "They've turned you into an adult too soon, Zeka..."

It was then that Erudyce took a rounded piece of metal out of her pocket before placing it on her little sister's head, pushing back some of the charcoal-colored hair out of her face. Zeka gave her elder sister a confused look.

"You wouldn't remember, but this is something our father made for our mother, as a good luck charm. She gave it to me a year ago, but..." she paused for a moment, "You'll need that luck one thousand times more than I."

With that, Erudyce gave Zeka a gentle hug before she was finally given the okay to leave the manor to start up her commotion and give the group some time to escape Baticul.


End file.
